Carb Addiction
Twibbly
Posts: 1,065 Member
I've come to the conclusion that I am most definitely a carb addict.
I cut out gluten years ago. That greatly reduced my baking and my bread intake, but I just ate more rice, corn, pasta, and sugar.
I'm on my third Dr. Pepper today. They keep calling my name from the fridge, and my husband is not willing for there to be none in there.
I did manage to kick it for about 2 months, and saw amazing benefits to my health, but I still couldn't maintain it and haven't managed to get back to eating better again. I fail at "just eat meat" and "willpower".
I know I need to kick it cold turkey, but how?
I cut out gluten years ago. That greatly reduced my baking and my bread intake, but I just ate more rice, corn, pasta, and sugar.
I'm on my third Dr. Pepper today. They keep calling my name from the fridge, and my husband is not willing for there to be none in there.
I did manage to kick it for about 2 months, and saw amazing benefits to my health, but I still couldn't maintain it and haven't managed to get back to eating better again. I fail at "just eat meat" and "willpower".
I know I need to kick it cold turkey, but how?
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That book I keep talking about "Change Anything" is great about explaining why we fall into the Willpower Trap. It isn't about willpower alone. Willpower without supporting tools and plans will ALWAYS FAIL. It needs to be bolstered. I strongly recommended checking out that book. It will help you see why you keep fighting the same fight over and over again. All types of influence working against. Biology, availability, temptation, addiction, etc.0
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Hi Twibbly! I'm so glad you have hung in there and shared your struggles with us!
Yes, carb addiction is real, for many people. I am fortunate that I gave up all sodas over fifteen years ago, but the "call" of that drink you love can be very hard to overcome. I hate that your hubby insists on keeping them in the house and I know this creates a stumbling block for you. What it comes down to is choice (you know this). It's yours to make leading to more strength for next time (by resisting) or to your detriment. The choice is there, everyday. You are the only one who can make it! 
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Ironically, I just was drinking some kombucha, which was a naturally fermented tea, which is also fizzy, and if one also likes the type of taste of beer, I could see kombucha being a healthy, fizzy alternative to soda. At the time of drinking, one could even sweeten to taste (just not during brewing)...0
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Knit, mom says she has some for me that's Dr. Pepper flavored. I will check out the book.0
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I am right there with you. I did beautifully last year (Feb-June or so). Then started slacking off and throughout the winter managed to put on 30 lbs, by not paying attention to what I was doing. Add in work stress, menopause, 3 kids and hubby and my dog getting cancer, and it was a mess! I just decided last week to come back to MFP, start tracking my food again and get back to low carb. Tracking for me is the key. If I log in here or track on my phone every day, it works. If I don't, it doesn't. Tracking and logging in, is my accountability. Some people factor in cheat days, breaks and what not, but somehow you always have to get back to what works. Good luck!!!0
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I think planning a cheat day is self destructive for a carb addict. It's a self defeating idea from the start. I heard this a few days ago.
"Decision 1) I’ve decided to change my life, take control, and get healthy
Decision 2) How quickly and how often can I cheat?
Does that sound like a focused, disciplined mind? It sounds like someone who is already resigned to failure. It sounds like me.
- If someone is trying to quit smoking, drinking, or drugs, and they asked, ‘What about cheat days?’, it would be obvious that they are not serious about changing."
Really puts things into perspective for me.
http://www.ketovangelist.com/winners-never-cheat/1 -
I go through this stupid cycle. I eat on track for a time and then I get this thinking error that says "you've lost weight and you have learned a lot so it's ok to start slowly adding things back in". I get past 50 carbs and I start eating the wallpaper. I used to think it was all in my head like I could have the willpower to overcome it. It's like the heroin addict who thinks they can still hang with the same crowd and not use. Doesn't work. I know there are people who doubt the validity of food addiction but for me it seems very real. I work in an addiction clinic and see the parallels between myself and them in the ways the brain tries to get its way. Sorry for the rant. I feel much better0
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that was my mistake too. three times in fact. and I agree with you: it's not about willpower at all
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For me it was never about willpower. Sometimes I had it for a while. Then I gave in "just this once" and went downhill fast. This happened with every.single.diet.I.tried. For years.
Then I found LCHF -- stress on the HF -- and suddenly there was no need for willpower. I started feeding my body what it needed and it started healing. Sure, sometimes I have difficult moments, I'm addicted to carbs and my mind wants to trick me now and then. But I can see that those difficult moments now are mostly psychological, there's none of the blinding, mind numbing hunger I felt before. And with this my very limited "willpower" is able to cope.0 -
Please clear up this question for me. LCHF= low carb high fiber? Getting attuned to all these acronyms!0
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Low carb high fat
But not everyone does the high fat part
I am low carb and more protein than fat
Low carb is the key for me
Lots have success either way!
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As a reformed sugar addict myself, I have to say that I think willpower has a lot to do with it. Not the fact that the craving is there, but in holding firm to the commitment to see it through so that you can get past it to a point that it is reduced or gone entirely. Our will to overcome challenges can be hard to get started but I think each of us has to look at our behaviors and figure out the key to keeping the promises we make to ourselves.
I have a niece that is in recovery from drug addiction. She is in a good place now and working hard to reclaim her life. I basically felt like crap for eating a whole movie theater sized box of chewy lemonheads and found myself feeling like I just "needed" them and suddenly realized how ridiculous that sounded. I thought to myself, my niece successfully battled her addiction and still does every day along with re-building her wrecked life and I am sitting here feeling like a loser because I binged on sugar and I just told myself I couldn't help it. I was done! I wasn't going to allow myself to be that weak. I respected and recognized the strength of people in my life dealing with their own difficulties and battling through with amazing strength and I couldn't fend off a sugar craving. I got mad about it. I held myself accountable and I said that I would be strong from that day on, and I never had anymore candy. Even now, when I find myself using more artificial sweetener than usual, I start cutting it back. For me, the taste of sweet can create the craving and I am committed to controlling them and never letting a craving interfere with what I know is best for me ever again.0 -
Never letting a craving interfere with what I know is best for me
That is it right there0 -
Please clear up this question for me. LCHF= low carb high fiber? Getting attuned to all these acronyms!
It can be daunting, entirely too many letters, LOL!
This is what I check when in doubt. @Dittodan's blog has a load of useful info (thanks Dan!).
myfitnesspal.com/blog/DittoDan/view/blog-10-keto-abbreviations-acronyms-terminology-698398
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Okay, I would like to suggest something that may help. Chromium is supposed to be excellent for stabilising your blood sugars therefore decreasing the cravings. Also when I first started on low carb I said to myself ' NO sugar, NO starches for 1 week, eat as much as I wanted to of cheese, eggs, cream, meat with 2 x small salads a day' when I got to the end of 1 week, I felt so good I stretched it to another etc... If I was craving sweet I would eat some Brie or bacon or cream! No calorie counting. Then as you get better at it, your eating moderates itself and eventually even tap water tastes sweet Good luck ! 0
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In my case the 100% cure to my cravings was to stop eating sugars and grains making sure I have <50 grams of carbs daily.
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KetoGirl83 wrote: »For me it was never about willpower. Sometimes I had it for a while. Then I gave in "just this once" and went downhill fast. This happened with every.single.diet.I.tried. For years.
Then I found LCHF -- stress on the HF -- and suddenly there was no need for willpower. I started feeding my body what it needed and it started healing. Sure, sometimes I have difficult moments, I'm addicted to carbs and my mind wants to trick me now and then. But I can see that those difficult moments now are mostly psychological, there's none of the blinding, mind numbing hunger I felt before. And with this my very limited "willpower" is able to cope.
^^ this. When I feel the urge for carbs, I eat a high fat snack. pb, almonds, jerky, fat bombs, etc., then the carb craving goes away and I feel in control.1 -
Okay, I would like to suggest something that may help. Chromium is supposed to be excellent for stabilising your blood sugars therefore decreasing the cravings. Also when I first started on low carb I said to myself ' NO sugar, NO starches for 1 week, eat as much as I wanted to of cheese, eggs, cream, meat with 2 x small salads a day' when I got to the end of 1 week, I felt so good I stretched it to another etc... If I was craving sweet I would eat some Brie or bacon or cream! No calorie counting. Then as you get better at it, your eating moderates itself and eventually even tap water tastes sweet Good luck !
Yes it's weird how your tastebuds readjust. Last year I would not have said 90% dark chocolate was sweet, but now it does taste sweet and water does too!0 -
There's always a certain factor of «willpower» when making changes. But relying on willpower alone, puts me into these endless debates with myself. So much wasted energy for ME.
Desire bobs and wanes. Try focus more on building habits? It's kind of a job to diet. To change is uncomfy. Some things in life are just not up for debate. Like paying the mortgage/rent or brushing teeth. We accept that these habits are an investment in a better future. Why does that somehow not apply to our diets and health ?
@wabmester had an excellent point in another recent thread: If you know something is dangerous for you, why keep doing it ? We don't run out into a busy street, because the chance of getting hit is higher. We don't do what's destructive.
For me it helps to shift focus from what I lust for to what I need.
The human condition is full of fallacies. Accept your shortcomings and don't use one incident as an excuse to continue doing what you don't want. Forgive yourself the slip ups, move on.
Edit: removed confusing contradictory meaning.0 -
I haven't listened to this yet. But it's gotta have some good info right?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/livin-la-vida-low-carb-show/id324601605?mt=2&i=327524798
I will be listening to it on my morning walk I am leaving for right now.0 -
Ugh, I have the same problem, can't control myself around carbs/sweets. Not sure why people don't believe it's an addiction when it clearly is.0
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KittensMaster wrote: »I can't let carbs sit in my stomach for long. It seems they want friends!
Unfortunately I think I may have a binge disorder, things tend to happen like a a few pieces of popcorn turn into a giant bag of it, and really bad, emotional days end up with me crying into bowls of pudding or custard and bags of chips and dip. I was strict keto for about year, lost weight, saw dramatic improvement with all kinds of health issues, my running improved, etc... then I have a bad week, spectacularly fell off the wagon, turned into a bad few couple of months, long story short I gained a bunch of weight and all the problems I got rid of came back, so now I'm trying to get back on, but it's been so much harder then the first time I did that. I'm getting the carb flu from hell and the cravings have been non-stop and horrible. When I give in and cheat I feel awful and out of control, pretty much what I've seen alcoholics go through... so when people tell me carbs are not addictive, I wish they could feel how bad this is right now.
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Ok. I listened to the podcast and if you're still struggling with this I think you should make it a priority to listen to it ASAP.
The reason is that I think once you grasp the idea that this substance is powerful over you for whatever reason you want to believe, that you can set your mind to be more powerful than it.
@Foamroller is totally right in mentioning that relying on will power isn't enough. But you can start with will power. It can get you started so that you can make other changes needed that will help with your control once will power tires out. If you eliminate carbs to the bare minimum and make them come ONLY from vegetables (not the sugary ones) and maybe very little from dairy, increase your fats to at least 70%, many go much higher especially in the beginning and then get your basic protein, you will allow the natural process of switching to fat burning to turn off your carb cravings. You won't have to rely on will power. At least not at full effort. If you decide that you're doing well and you think you can start having just a bite or two of those old favorites at some point, you're probably wrong. But by all means, go ahead and risk it. It's just your physical and mental health that may suffer.
I think in times of temptation it really helps to view it slightly exaggerated by thinking 'if I have this it's the same as a recovered heroin addict just tasting some heroin cuz certainly he can manage it now.' Obviously, these two addictions aren't exactly the same and don't carry the same consequences or stigma, but we know that food addiction makes us feel out of control and that if we don't recover from it that we will suffer in many ways. I have to look at sugar as my "drug" and that I'm in recovery. It's not for me anymore. If I want to stay in control then I need to keep doing what I'm doing now and that's not eating sugary foods.
I really hope everyone struggling with this can make this change because I know how empowering it is. I want all of you to feel this feeling... How it feels to have beat it. But, I'll warn you, it tends to open doors to other things you want to do that are hard. Now I'm on a mission to get fit. Not just lose weight but build strength and develop a lifestyle that includes frequent exercise. Right now, this is my personal battle. I find it difficult to consistently exercise, but I am making progress and I'm using the nutrition tools I have and advise from my fellow LCD friends and I will create new habits. 0 -
I think there is also a huge difference in the factor that a heroin addict can avoid exposure to heroin for the rest of his life, theoretically. We require food to survive, so we can't boycott food altogether. Sometimes we will be exposed to foods we'd rather not be tempted by due to that thing called life. We cannot avoid all of our triggers, and so that makes it that much more difficult to avoid the idea of temptation and all that. It seems inevitable.
Changing one's thinking is hard, too. How can (RANDOM EXAMPLE) donuts be poison to me, but not be poison to my brother? Once we get to the point of trying to rationalize and use logic to justify things one direction or another, I find that I am already on the downward slope. I'm working to develop new skills to fight in those more tempting moments and situations.
I think, too, that this comes back to the fundamental principle that we almost all fight on some level in our heads/hearts. "It's not fair." No, it isn't fair. Life is NOT fair. And it is hard to accept that fully, because in a fantasy world, it would be fair. And maybe it should be fair. But the simple fact is that it is not fair. And swallowing that big pill is a huge issue for most of us. We can ignore it, act like it didn't happen, put the issue on the back burner, etc., but eventually, to gain emotional maturity and to move on in our own lives, we all really have to fully accept this premise...to embrace it even...and swallow that darned pill!0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »I think there is also a huge difference in the factor that a heroin addict can avoid exposure to heroin for the rest of his life, theoretically. We require food to survive, so we can't boycott food altogether. Sometimes we will be exposed to foods we'd rather not be tempted by due to that thing called life. We cannot avoid all of our triggers, and so that makes it that much more difficult to avoid the idea of temptation and all that. It seems inevitable.
Changing one's thinking is hard, too. How can (RANDOM EXAMPLE) donuts be poison to me, but not be poison to my brother? Once we get to the point of trying to rationalize and use logic to justify things one direction or another, I find that I am already on the downward slope. I'm working to develop new skills to fight in those more tempting moments and situations.
I think, too, that this comes back to the fundamental principle that we almost all fight on some level in our heads/hearts. "It's not fair." No, it isn't fair. Life is NOT fair. And it is hard to accept that fully, because in a fantasy world, it would be fair. And maybe it should be fair. But the simple fact is that it is not fair. And swallowing that big pill is a huge issue for most of us. We can ignore it, act like it didn't happen, put the issue on the back burner, etc., but eventually, to gain emotional maturity and to move on in our own lives, we all really have to fully accept this premise...to embrace it even...and swallow that darned pill!
Wow! Knit, you are always so on point! I'm always impressed with what you add to conversations.
Mentioning "how can the donut not be poison to my brother but it is to me" was something that came up in the podcast I linked. Again the comparison to alcohol addiction was referenced in that, not everyone that drinks becomes an alcoholic. There are any number of factors both known and unknown that could explain this. In the end, we have to just do what's best for us on an individual basis. We can't compare how fair our lives are to others. That's a recipe for self loathing, jealousy and a downward spiral.0 -
Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I haven't listened to this yet. But it's gotta have some good info right?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/livin-la-vida-low-carb-show/id324601605?mt=2&i=327524798
I will be listening to it on my morning walk I am leaving for right now.
I have it downloaded (along with a few others with the same lady - she'd been on Underground Wellness also). Listening now.
I think the plan is to start Monday is no sugar no grains (hi Gale!) and lots more fat. All the sugary crap (except the requisite Dr. Peppers) will be out of the fridge by then and I can use up the spaghetti noodles and such this weekend with the kids.
Do y'all worry if there's a touch of sugar or corn starch in a sauce? I use a curry sauce that has 7g sugar and 21g carbs, and I'd be eating about a third of it each day with cauliflower and chicken. Otherwise, I guess I'll be eating taco meat & breakfast sausage instead.0 -
It's a tough problem. Behavior changes are the long term solution. Short term you may want to research L-Glutamine to ease the carbohydrate cravings.0
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Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »I haven't listened to this yet. But it's gotta have some good info right?
https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/livin-la-vida-low-carb-show/id324601605?mt=2&i=327524798
I will be listening to it on my morning walk I am leaving for right now.
I have it downloaded (along with a few others with the same lady - she'd been on Underground Wellness also). Listening now.
I think the plan is to start Monday is no sugar no grains (hi Gale!) and lots more fat. All the sugary crap (except the requisite Dr. Peppers) will be out of the fridge by then and I can use up the spaghetti noodles and such this weekend with the kids.
Do y'all worry if there's a touch of sugar or corn starch in a sauce? I use a curry sauce that has 7g sugar and 21g carbs, and I'd be eating about a third of it each day with cauliflower and chicken. Otherwise, I guess I'll be eating taco meat & breakfast sausage instead.
@Twibbly As long as I load a sauce like that with a major pairing of fat at each "consumption," I don't worry too terribly much, but I do also look for alternatives to make my own copycat versions of things like this all the time. Because sauces tend to have corn starch or flour or Gods know what as a thickener, and while I don't have a choice RIGHT NOW always, I do have the future option. And honestly, most of the times I like my own "copycat modified for LC eating" sauces BETTER than the originals!!! Might take some tweaky science to get there, but we do eventually.0
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